The real stories from inside the F1 paddock

En route to Monza

You might have noticed that yesterday was a little quiet on the blog. This was because I spent the entire day driving from Paris to Milan. Why? It is not cheaper than flying in cattle class with a low cost airline, but it is a great deal nicer. I was gone from Paris at five o’clock in the morning, when one can traverse the entire conurbation in half an hour and I was well into Burgundy (as opposed to being well into the Burgundy) by the time dawn broke. There was a quick pit stop in Beaune, for a croissant and a coffee and then I saw a sign that said “Memorial de L’Avenir”. A memorial to the future? I was curious and stopped. It was a sobering moment to discover that this was not some eccentric avant-garde idea but rather a monument to the 44 school children who were killed in a coach accident on the motorway in the summer of 1982, all of then from Crépy-en-Valois, which is my local town when I get home. The accident remains the worst in French history… I headed onward towards Geneva with the autoroute radio telling me that the A40 was closed between Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellegarde but would be open at 6.30, then 7.30, then 9.30. It was still closed when I arrived and went into a monster traffic jam, which is what happens when you funnel all the traffic off a major international road into a small village. Not wishing to spent the day looking at cows and trucks, I did a U-turn and headed for the hills and completed a neat rally stage to arrive in Bellegarde, having lost only about half an hour.

A glacier and a truck

The traffic jam behind me continued to grow as I hustled on to Geneva but the radio had it in for me and began reporting a lengthening tail-back at the Mont Blanc tunnel, which has restricted access these days, following another monster accident in 1999 when 39 people died in a fire inside the tunnel. It was getting to lunch time and so I stopped to pick up a sandwich in a place called Bonneville, where they don’t have any kind of Speedweek and then it was once more unto the breach, having decided not to try going over the top, after a similar situation 12 months ago resulted in hours of delightful Alpine driving. So I sat in a jam under a glacier an chomped on my sandwich and was able to marvel at the brilliant engineering, and the fact that it still does not work properly…

Finally at 2pm I popped out of the tunnel on the Italian side and enjoyed a delightful run down the Val d’Aosta, past an incongruous place called Derby, which simply must have an interesting history, probably involving a man in a tweed hat. If you ever win a lot of money and feel the need to buy a castle, this is the place to be. There are ruined castles everywhere. The driving had become more colourful as the Italians always drive as though they are on their mobile phones (and usually they are) but I finally got down to the plains near Turin and then hurtled on towards Milan, passing Balocco, the testing ground where Alfa Romeo used to run its F1 cars in the 1970s but from there until Monza they were digging up every road and so it was early evening before I finally arrived and too late to get to the track.

Still, there are worse ways to spend days… usually in airports.

In real news terms there was little to report.

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23 Responses

Joe,
two thoughts if you use the tunnel on the way back:
1 there’s a speed camera about 8 km down the motorway from Chamonix – 90 kph and it’s a real earner!
2: turn right at the end of the short tunnel after the speed camera and there’s truck stop. €12 the last time I went there and if you leave hungry it’s your fault, not theirs!
have a good Monza!

I was also amazed on a recent trip to Italy how many beautiful buildings lie derelict. We stayed in a restored Palladium villa near Padua, like a mini Buck House, but it had been restored by The Landmark Trust!

Looking forward to a great race, with two DRS could it be like watching Caterhams race I wonder?, no one wants to lead starting the last lap . .

Joe, an inspiring road trip. Reminds me of our one experience of visiting Monza – a stillborn attempt to watch the GP in 1999.

Our route involved the length of the UK (Edinburgh to Portsmouth), then ferry to Bilbao. A blast along beneath the Pyrennees and a couple of nights at Barcelona. Then across the mountains close to Andorra and a further pitstop at Montpelier. The 35 deg heat on the autoroute from there to Monaco was quite something in an open-top roadster…so we put the roof back on!

There had been doubt about our GP tickets before we left the UK, and after our first night in Monaco it was clear it was not to be. The ticket agent had bungled our booking and there was no race for us. Was to be our first ever live GP so we were gutted of course. Made up for it with some extra drinks by the rooftop pool on the Grand Hotel, then looked forward to joining up with 40 other Elise owners to head for the Stelvio Pass a couple of days hence.

We got a brief look at the gates of Monza en route from Baveno to the start of the Pass, but that was about it!

Our routes to and through the mountains deliberately avoided any kind of autostrada or tunnel, and the crossing of the Stelvio was an amazing experience which we’re thrilled to have been part of. At the summit, we commemorated Lotus’ testing of the Elise’s innovative ceramic brakes there some years earlier. This was on the 3rd anniversary of its launch, with a birthday cake cut by Lotus’ own Dave Minter and something like 60 Elises littering the tiny car park 🙂

There was much fun on the remainder of the trip, snaking our way back to the UK amongst so many other “wee plastic cars” but that is a story for another blog…

Thanks for bringing back these memories, and I’m looking forward to hearing about this weekend’s antics!

Seeing as it’s not really a topic from which to be off, I thought I’d mention something from JA’s column to the effect that the blown diffusers have increased downforce from the floor (cf wings) by c20%.

Given that floor downforce doesn’t get affected to the same degree as wing downforce when following cars, is this another factor in the ‘is it KERS/tyre/DRS that’s enabling all the overtakes’ equation.

Nice travelogue! The middle part of Europe is really one of the most beautiful places to drive, especially when you leave the motorway! Have a great weekend in Monza!

Peter G:
The roads are much more busy over here in Europe compared to Australia. I found it quite easy to drive 1000K or more on a day in Australia, feeling quite fresh after it, but I am exhausted after 1000K in Europe…

There is so much more traffic, but also a lot more interchanges along the way with traffic that wants to get on and off the motorway.

Reading this, I kept thinking of Hannibal’s march on Rome and wondering if you duplicated his trail at any point. Not that it is known, even Polybius says it was debated in his lifetime.

Driving is so civilized. When I have gone from Long Island NY to the F1 race at Montreal, I drive. Had to drive alongside a lot of motorcyclists going to a convention in Saratoga but worth the 400 miles.

Done any long distance driving in Australia recently?
With the speed restrictions here, and speed limits from 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 100 and occasionally 110km / hour , its wearying.
Not fun here like the old days.

Try Sydney to Perth. A tick under 4000k, 39 driving hours but some great scenery along the way. I stopped at a rest stop along the way with a photo opportunity. Up this dirt road to the parking area, out of the car, looked north at the Nullabour Plain. Flat, sandy (it is a desert), small scrub. Nothing particulary interesting. Turned to the south and I am standing on the edge of the Great Australian Bight. On a cliff 200 metres above the sea, raging onto the cliff face and that extended as far as the eye could see east and west. So awesome!
Would love to tour Europe sometime. Breakfast in England, lunch in Spain, dinner in Italy. Wow!

Hi Joe,
Great read.
I did the road trip from Copenhagen through Germany, then hit Switzerland around 10 pm at night. Stayed at a friends place, then we took the scenic route along Lago Maggiore. Beautiful. We found this small village in the hills, a small hotel. Got up at 5.30 Friday towatch the sun rise and painted the mountains in the background purple. After a couple of strong espresso´s, we hit the road again to go to the track and made it just in time for the first session. Awesome.